These PBA Stars Are Also The Biggest Videogame Junkies

No matter how big your love for the game of basketball is, it must get tedious to the same routine over and over again: show up for workout and practice, then show out in the actual game.

For PBA players, one way to unwind and fuel their competitive fire is through video games. While their foreign counterparts are reportedly addicted to Fortnite and NBA 2K, Pinoy ballers have their Dota 2 and Rules of Survival. True enough, the trash talk doesn't end on the hardwood.

FHM lists the most prominent PBA stars whose mad skills extend to the keyboard and mouse.

Raymond Almazan (Rain or Shine Elasto Painters)

Unlike the rest of the players on this list, there seems to be no photo or video proof of and interview about the ROS center actually smashing buttons. We did spot a couple of his comments on an Instagram post by fellow gamer June Mar Fajardo, inviting the latter for some battle royale action with PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds instead of its knockoff.

Japeth and Cassy Naidas's relationship is the perfect example of the old "DOTAo ako?" meme. The couple shares their hangouts through YouTube vlogs or Facebook Live, with the Ginebra forward usually in front of the PC while his girlfriend takes care of storytelling. It won't be suprising if he was also playing with the next entry...

Greg Slaughter (Barangay Ginebra San Miguel)

In a recent SPIN.ph interview about teaming up with Fajardo in the All-Star game, Slaughter put the rare teamup with his rival Cebuano center as "We win a lot together in DOTA, I think we make a good team." We guess the league is lucky enough that the idea of the Kraken and Gregzilla existing in one team stays on the gaming sphere.

It's funny how the veteran big man first met his Gilas Pilipinas best friend not on the court, but in a computer shop. Since then, fans have been looking forward to the duo's hilarious Dota 2 exploits more than their games. When his team lost to Fajardo's San Miguel Beermen during the 2015 Governors' Cup, Pingris even joked, "Iki-kill ko yan mamaya."

Carl Bryan Cruz (Alaska Aces)

CBC was so into PC games at one point in his life that he considered a career in it. "Kung hindi ako naging basketball player bakaDOTA player ako kasi nung bata ako mahilig ako sa computer games," he once told INQUIRER.net. "Sinusundo pa nga ko ng tatay ko sa computer shop para umuwi eh. Tumatakas pa ko."

You have to be a hardcore gamer when almost all of your colleagues refer to you in their Dota 2 stories, you greet your Rules of Survival buddies post-game, and you influence your honey (Aerieal Patnongon) to get the "chicken dinner." Fajardo might not just be the biggest player in the PBA (Sorry, Greg), but also its biggest video game player.